


Ravensroost

by tookishheart



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Ravensroost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-20 07:26:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9481043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tookishheart/pseuds/tookishheart
Summary: A short piece about Magnus returning home from Neverwinter as a Master Craftsman.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This work is dedicated to Eli, for being my most favourite human being on this whole entire earth. 
> 
> They are also evil for the following reasons and they should be ashamed of themselves:  
> A) They got me into TAZ and then actively encouraged my rapidly developing obsession.  
> B) They laughed at my pain when I reached Episode 48.
> 
> But seriously, Eli, you're the best and I love you. ♥

The sun was shining that day, beating down on Magnus as he chucked Alys’ reins and moved her on a little faster. Magnus didn’t mind, because he was almost home. And a Master Carpenter to boot, he thought, sparing a fond glance over his shoulder at the magnificent chair that had finally- officially- won him the title.

Alys huffed to herself, but stepped the pace up a little. The small cart rolled along the road, which just under three weeks ago had been full of people, but today was very quiet. Very quiet.

A small voice of doubt and worry began to murmur in the back of Magnus’ mind, but he pushed it down. Julia was waiting, and he would be able to pick her up in his arms, spin her around, and kiss her. She would smile into his lips, and her auburn hair would fall into both their mouths as it always did, and he would be home.

The voice didn’t go quiet.

Magnus chucked the reins again, willing Alys to move just a little faster, so he could see the city he called home and return to his love. Alys obliged, though not without a soft noise of protest at being asked to move faster yet again.

The steep hill that marked the final ascent to the cliff stacks of Ravensroost was upon him, and still there was not another soul on the road besides him. Now the worry was running rampant through his mind. Something here was not right; had Callen returned, and sealed the city again in his absence? _Was Julia okay?_

Alys crested the top of the hill, and Magnus pulled her to a sharp halt and looked out across the city, desperate to know what was going-

Where was the clock tower of the Craftsman’s Corridor? Where were the _people_?

“Julia,” he said involuntarily, swinging down off the cart without a second thought, Master Craftsman title forgotten entirely. He thundered across the entry bridge to the city stacks, looking around for someone- anyone- to tell him what was going on.

All he could hear was the cawing of a raven in the sunlight as he moved through the abandoned streets, looking around desperately for answers that did not come.

When he reached the bridges to the Craftsman’s Corridor, he was almost sick.

It was _gone_.

“Julia? JULIA?!”

He scrabbled at the end of the bridge, desperately seeking purchase. There was none; the wood splintered in his calloused hands, the ropes snapped and frayed where they had tried in vain to hold the bridges together.

“JULIA!”

His cries did nothing to dispel the gut feeling of terror as he scrabbled uselessly at the edge of the first residential pillar.

“JULIA!”

He turned, looking around frantically, and took a few paces back into the residential district. Maybe she’d been and visited her grandmother. Maybe they’d taken refuge there.

A voice from behind him shook him from his reverie. “Where’ve you been, lad? Under a rock?”

He turned, shakily, and was faced with an old woman he’d never seen before. Her eyes were dark, deep set, and her skin was wrinkled with both sun and smoke. She frowned at him.

“Magnus Burnsides, well I’ll be damned.”

“What happened?” he asked. He was not surprised this woman recognised him considering his reluctant leadership of the Resistance. “Where’s the Craftsman’s Corridor? Where have Julia Burnsides and Steven Waxmen gone? I was- I went to Neverwinter.”

“Oh, my lad. Would that you’d been here,” she muttered, looking at him with a frown. “How long ago did you go away?”

“Almost three weeks.”

“Callen came about then, probably just after you left. He’d got men to string up bombs along the support columns of the city. Took out the entire Craftsman’s Corridor in one explosion. Nobody got out of there alive, ‘cept the folk on the bridges. And even some of them didn’t get chance to move. In the two weeks since, everyone’s left. But not me, no. I was born in this city, an’ I’ll die here sooner than leave it.”

Magnus felt his knees go weak and his stomach sour. “Nobody got out?”

“Not one. If your wife was in there, she didn’t get out alive. I’m sorry, lad.”

She offered him a comforting hand on one arm, but nothing could break through the well of despair that flooded his system.

“Are you sure- Julia Burnsides- she would have left a message. Or Steven Waxmen?”

“I’m sorry, lad. You lived in there, didn’t ya?”

At some point whilst she was speaking, Magnus’ knees gave way. He will never remember quite how he ended up on the floor at the woman’s feet. He heard the yelling, and he could feel his throat burning with the shouts that welled up from somewhere within, but his mind could not quite connect the sound with his own vocal cords.

“ _JULIA_!”

He did not know how long he was there, but the woman did not leave him.

Slowly, he scraped himself to his feet. His knees were stiff and his throat felt almost bloody with the strain of his screams. A cold breeze picked up and his skin prickled as he turned to look once again to look at the shattered, splintered remains of the Craftsman’s Corridor bridges. He had helped make this bridge. His eyes welled with tears and spilled down his cheeks, hot and sharp.

“Julia,” he croaked. “I should have- I should have been here.”

“You need a hot drink and something to eat. I’ve some tea at my house.”

“T-thank you. What’s your name, kind stranger?”

“Elizabeth Brinny.”

“Thank you, Elizabeth.”

“That Callen will get what he deserves,” she growled under her breath, looking across the empty town.

Magnus cleared his throat and tried not to wince.

“Oh, I’ll make sure of it.”

                                                   


End file.
